Brendon Hill's love for 100-year-old golf clubs is at odds with the sport's forward-based outlook, where players are ever-swinging at improving their game and equipment.
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This week, the Launceston golfer - who has restored almost 200 hickory golf clubs - is offering the opportunity to dress in vintage gear at the WillFit indoor golf facility and "have a swing" with his wooden clubs.
Hickory clubs, made with wooden shafts from hickory trees and iron heads, were a style that went out of fashion in the 1920s.
However, despite their supposed obsolescence, Hill has found success and obsession in the "feel" for the clubs and "stepping back in time".
![Brendon Hill of WillFit Golf restores traditional Hickory golf clubs. Picture by Phillip Biggs Brendon Hill of WillFit Golf restores traditional Hickory golf clubs. Picture by Phillip Biggs](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/212705588/f0cf2471-f1ef-41d3-b7b0-5e34bf642c49.jpg/r0_0_5000_3331_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Once I started playing with hickory golf clubs, I realised how much or how much character the game actually had," he said.
"It takes on a new perspective and a new flavour."
Inspired by films like The Legend of Bagger Vance and The Greatest Game Ever Played, Hill picked up a hickory putter from an op-shop and never looked back.
"What I like about it is that I can see the history these clubs have with inscriptions on the irons and the shafts," he said.
"It's quite a lovely experience to stroll around with them."
![Brendon Hill of WillFit Golf restores traditional Hickory golf clubs. Picture by Phillip Biggs Brendon Hill of WillFit Golf restores traditional Hickory golf clubs. Picture by Phillip Biggs](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/212705588/1a951108-31d3-4ab8-9315-df766e1e1977.jpg/r0_0_5000_3331_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Dressed in golf knickers, a sweater vest, high socks and a tweed driving hat, Mr Hill cuts a classic figure on courses around the state carrying his stovepipe bag of hickory clubs and fob watch.
But, he doesn't just look the part; Hill has the game to match it: last year, he entered Tasmanian golfing history when he hit three holes-in-one on each Mowbray's par threes within 12 months, the first of which with one of his hickory clubs.
Having purchased nearly 200 authentic clubs, Hill said playing with them necessitated learning how to restore them, replacing parts and mending others.
The oldest club he owns is believed to be from the 1850s and is called a "smooth-faced" club, having no grooves for creating spin.
Now employed at WillFit Golf - a TrackMan golf simulator centre in Invermay which allows golfers to effectively play inside - Hill said he was eager to help other golfers find the variety in the game.
"Golf can bring two different things to two different people, and with hickory clubs, that's another facet people don't often try," he said.
"Having this old, authentic experience is so unique."
This week, for two hours each day from Tuesday to Saturday, WillFit's simulators will run the St. Andrews Old Course in Scotland, and participants will dress in 1920s attire and use Hill's clubs.
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The St. Andrews Links are "the Home of Golf", being considered the oldest course in the world as well as the birthplace of some of Hill's clubs.
![Brendon Hill of WillFit Golf restores traditional Hickory golf clubs. Picture by Phillip Biggs Brendon Hill of WillFit Golf restores traditional Hickory golf clubs. Picture by Phillip Biggs](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/212705588/89088bd4-85d8-42a0-a6a8-596d0905e4ad.jpg/r0_0_5000_3331_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
After each two-hour session, WillFit will run a putting competition using old-style golf balls, with the winner receiving a hand-crafted St. Andrews hickory putter.
"This is an opportunity to experience the game how it was played 100 years ago," Hill said.
The "Old and New" Hickory Golf Experience will run with sessions from Tuesday, July 18, to Saturday, July 22, with tickets available at the WillFit website.
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